The biggest release of the month (and still to arrive for all you readers in the US) was of course Spectre, the latest installment in the never-ending 007 franchise. Reviewer Eric Hillis was unimpressed, writing "Spectre is like one of those boutique magazines you find in hotel rooms and on passenger planes. It's printed on glossy paper, immaculately designed and packed with appealing products, but devoid of engaging content." Read the review here.
The Irish Film Institute once again hosted Horrorthon. In its 18th year, the five day event has become one of Europe's best genre festivals. The big draw this year was Eli Roth's The Green Inferno, which still has no release date on this side of the Atlantic. We were left unimpressed however, with reviewer Eric Hillis writing "Like most of Roth's films, The Green Inferno is devoid of tension or suspense, its narrative simply taking the form of a series of gruesome deaths of protagonists we couldn't care less about, all blood and no build-up."
Our festival highlight was Karyn Kusama's gripping thriller The Invitation - "The dinner party has proven a fertile setting for a host of great movies. Karyn Kusama's engrossing new psycho-drama, The Invitation, is in heady company, but holds its own at the table. If you're offered a chance to see it, accept that invite."
The biggest surprise of Horrorthon was Eric Hannezo's French language remake of Mario Bava's cult thriller Rabid Dogs - "It's all too easy to groan at the idea of a remake, especially one that dares to take on material covered by an auteur like Bava, but this Rabid Dogs is a worthwhile reboot, one that establishes its director as a filmmaker we'll be keeping a close eye on."
Find all our IFI Horrorthon 2015 coverage by clicking the image below.
The fifth annual Seattle Shorts Film Festival will take place over the weekend of November 14th-15th, but we were given an early look at some of the shorts competing. Reviewer Benjamin Poole was highly impressed by quite a few of the entries, and you can find all his coverage by clicking the image below.
Thanks to a New York Times article by AO Scott, there was much discussion online this month about the idea of film snobbery. Eric Hillis argued 'There are no film snobs, only film bigots!'
Due to our lack of imagination, we reviewed and rated every movie in the Halloween franchise.
With so much talk recently about how women and minorities are being marginalised in Hollywood today, we looked back at how a redhead and her latino husband changed Hollywood forever.
For the month that's in it, we argued the case for including Final Destination in the '1001 Movies You Should See' book.
Depressed by the lack of classic horror on UK TV this Halloween, we asked 'How are kids discovering old movies now?'
Following the announcement of a Die Hard prequel, we looked back at the prequel that already exists - 1968's The Detective.
We pondered how horror movies reflect the mood of the times - Real Horror vs Reel Horror!
Our crackpot theories continued with a look at how The Walking Dead takes place in the mind of a St Elsewhere character.
Remakes are usually frowned upon, but Benjamin Poole argued for five horror remakes worth your attention. Many of you expressed bemusement across our social networks at the absence of John Carpenter's The Thing, but Benjamin explained that the five movies he picked were based on existing movies, whereas The Thing is an adaptation of a short story. So there.
For a special Halloween feature, a bunch of filmmakers and stars revealed their favourite horror movie moments, including our idol, John Carpenter!
Director David Gelb (The Lazarus Effect) shared his favourite horror movies, and we interviewed directors Christopher Schrack (Backwater) and Robert Conway (Krampus: The Reckoning).
A healthy crop of new trailers dropped this month, including Star Wars: The Force Awakens, By the Sea, Joy, The Boy, Hail, Caesar!, A Bigger Splash and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2.
A couple of highly recommended new Blu-Ray releases arrived at Waffler Towers - 1949's Thieves' Highway and 1990's The Reflecting Skin.
Our favourite new release this month was the absurdist dystopian sci-fi comedy The Lobster, and we also recommended Superbob, Bloody Knuckles, Beasts of No Nation, Brooklyn, Deep Dark and Backwater.
We hope you'll join us for a jam packed November!